Carson Advisory Inc. Acquires New Shares in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

Carson Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LIN. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Linde during the third quarter worth $207,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 2.1% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,178,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 25.3% during the third quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 18.9% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Linde by 5.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 36,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Linde Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of LIN traded up $3.75 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $434.95. 1,553,960 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,038,320. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $433.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $435.23. The company has a market cap of $209.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.93. Linde plc has a 1-year low of $361.02 and a 1-year high of $477.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Linde plc will post 15.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Linde Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were given a dividend of $1.39 per share. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 4th. Linde’s payout ratio is 43.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Linde from $490.00 to $475.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. HSBC reduced their target price on Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $475.00 to $500.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $465.92.

Linde Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.